13-Jul-2010 -- Although my attempt to visit occurred in July 2010, only now I am sending this information. This was due to a problem that occurred with my laptop; initially I thought to have lost all information, (part of this text, photos, path recorded by GPS, etc.), but fortunately I managed to recover this data and I am now pleading for the conquest of the confluence 17S 40W.

It was July 2010 and I was on vacation, as there was a family commitment right in the middle of my vacation, I decided to split it in two steps, in which I would try to visit 2 confluences (16S 41W and 17S 40W) in step 1, return to Petrópolis, and then try to get to another two confluences (14S 44W and 15S 43W) in the second step of vacations; because these were about the closest of Petrópolis, being that I managed to really get around just this confluence 17S 40W.

Day July 8, 2010, Thursday. We left Petrópolis I, my wife and our faithful companion of travel: Lilica, a friendly little puppy of the breed Yorkshire, at the time with 6 months of age, and overnight stay was in Manhuaçu.

Day July 9, 2010, Friday, we left Manhuaçu and arrived for lunch in Ipatinga where our stay was at the home of relatives.

Day July 10, 2010, Saturday, we left this morning from Ipatinga and arrived at the end of the afternoon in Teófilo Otoni, where we spent the night. I enjoyed the stay at the hotel to prepare the last details of the alleged visit, querying maps, tracing manual routes on Google Earth, and passing these routes to the GPS, etc.

Day July 11, 2010, Sunday, we ambled a little in Teófilo Otoni, had lunch and after, we started to Nanuque where we arrived in late afternoon and stayed overnight.

Day July 12, 2010, Monday, we left Nanuque around 09:00 in the morning and we continued the journey. We passed by Senador Aimorés, Lajedão, Medeiros Neto, Veredas, and finally, almost already mid-afternoon, we arrived to Prata, a village that although diminutive, was well on my map, as well as in Google Earth, we had a small snack, took a round by the village and went in search of our larger goal.

It was now that the adventure really began, because for a reason that I do not know which was the route I had inserted in GPS, this was not working as planned, the instrument showed only a straight line between the point where I was and the actual Confluence, i.e. worked only as an electronic compass, so that when it rose a fork, I told myself, was with my instincts, intuition, luck and whatever else.

The path was even good for a 4x4, luckily I was in one, a very valiant Pajero TR4 2005. We went through several gates, and each time more increased the feeling that we were invading alien property, not to mention the fact that the road was getting worse, this was better, not for my wife, but for me, for sure.

We then came to a farm, where was a very strong feeling of invasion, my wife was very disturbed by this impression, but we decided to go ahead anyway. We passed beside a farmyard, after a house where we did not see anyone and of a kind of weird, for our luck, the road was now an appearance, in that it was not so strong that feeling of invasion.

Beyond the gates there were also numerous bridges made of raw trunks, in good condition or not, so that in times, we would pass directly over the creek, there was also deep erosion holes, but nothing big enough to stop us.

We saw a site and we decided to stop and talk with the residents, as it seemed at this point that the confluence was in their domains. We were very well received, but the lady who attended said no, understood none of what I wanted, and forwarded me then to her daughter, which being more studied certainly would understand my mysterious purposes. Having explained everything to the girl, this reassured her mother, saying that he had nothing more, were just a few rattle heads that for lack of anything better to do, we decided to walk behind a point lost in the middle of nowhere, but there were "good people"; having the mother agreed with her daughter, still felt better wait for the arrival of her husband in order to authorize my access of the hill where my electronic compass was showing the point.

It was the end of the afternoon, we talked a bit with both mother and daughter while knew the farmyard of the site, we found this conversation that this family was from the town of Teixeira de Freitas-Bahia. Finally around at 17:00, the respected citizen bike arrived, because he had gone to do some shopping in Prata, having taken science of our goal and relying on his daughter, this nodded with a gesture that I could Yes pick up such appliance and go search for the elusive point. I was then only me, my GPS and my photographic camera; My wife and Lilica were prose with these friendly personas.

I got to about 1200 meters of the point, but it began to darken and I decided to leave to continue the other day, so we went back to the hotel at Medeiros Neto, although when I passed found that there was a kind of hostel or pension.

July 13, 2010, after breakfast at the hotel, I talked with a guy I met in the parking lot of the hotel, he worked at IBGE and it was great to talk with someone who won't take as if you were an alien.

We left Medeiros Neto and we left again towards the point "G", this time, thanks to not know what; the GPS was to trace the route as I expected even if it did; so since I realize an error that I had committed on the eve on a certain bifurcation, so we had the path changed and we were no more until the place where I was so well received on the previous day.

But we came to another site where also the hospitality was inviting. I stopped the car as close as I could from a cottage where I saw a boy and a elderly man sitting in front of the house whom I expose my ideas, after some time they said they had not prevented some, I would rather seek the elusive point. However, during the course I was just going to step on another property, there was a young guy to take care of the planting whom patiently I counted my sad story.

He also allowed my search, so I, my Oregon 300 and my camera started the hike to a not very big hill. It was a relatively easy path because some cows were around, I was philosophizing about what would happen to the Universe if one day any one of these intrepid ruminants, faced with a cross of an entire degree parallel with a line of longitude integer degree in such a luck that these such cows had done a trail well geographers where I needed.

But, as always is everything in life, not all are flowers. When I was about 80 meters of my goal, I witnessed a curious scene, a beautiful bird being devoured by a viper, on one side was just choking, on the other hand was right, but not why you want the end of a fleeting and small singer. It was the nature, if showing in all its rawness, the moment I remembered that in finds, in that I spent on that trick, the margin of a pond also had seen one of these reptiles to be delighted by a highly metabolic tanning.

At this point I was already at the top, starting the descent of the opposite slope, the bush was somewhat high and both the scene view as the scene recalled, they made me reflect on my own and insignificant life, totally vulnerable, was short barreled boot, but bermuda and shirt and had neither machete or little knife if you want. I thought of my wife downstairs in the car and even in Lilica two creatures that depended on my safe return.

After this whole drama, of course, I hope that everyone understands why I haven't zeroed out the GPS, I gave up when this indicated that lacked even 80 metres to the 17S 40W; but, with all certainty I intend to get back there one day any detailed and take note of everything, including the names of the people I met and that they treated me very well, give them that my contact was successful, thank them and finally, reset the GPS, stare at a stake, at the exact point, symbolic landmark of this singular achievement.